Job 31
1I made a covenant with mine eyes; 1 Why then should I think upon a maid? 1
2For what portion of God is there from above? 1 And what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? 1
3Is not destruction to the wicked? 1 And a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? 1
4Doth not he see my ways, 1 And count all my steps? 1
5If I have walked with vanity, 1 Or if my foot hath hasted to deceit; 1
6Let me be weighed in an even balance, 1 That God may know mine integrity. 1
7If my step hath turned out of the way, 1 And mine heart walked after mine eyes, 1 And if any blot hath cleaved to my hands; 1
8Then let me sow, and let another eat; 1 Yea, let my offspring be rooted out. 1
9If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, 1 Or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door; 1
10Then let my wife grind unto another, 1 And let others bow down upon her. 1
11For this is a heinous crime; 1 Yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. 1
12For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, 1 And would root out all mine increase. 1
13If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, 1 When they contended with me; 1
14What then shall I do when God riseth up? 1 And when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? 1
15Did not he that made me in the womb make him? 1 And did not one fashion us in the womb? 1
16If I have withheld the poor from their desire, 1 Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; 1
17Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, 1 And the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; 1
18(For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, 1 And I have guided her from my mother’s womb;) 1
19If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, 1 Or any poor without covering; 1
20If his loins have not blessed me, 1 And if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; 1
21If I have lift up my hand against the fatherless, 1 When I saw my help in the gate: 1
22Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, 1 And mine arm be broken from the bone. 1
23For destruction from God was a terror to me, 1 And by reason of his highness I could not endure. 1
24If I have made gold my hope, 1 Or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; 1
25If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, 1 And because mine hand had gotten much; 1
26If I beheld the sun when it shined, 1 Or the moon walking in brightness; 1
27And my heart hath been secretly enticed, 1 Or my mouth hath kissed my hand: 1
28This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: 1 For I should have denied the God that is above. 1
29If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, 1 Or lift up myself when evil found him: 1
30(Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin 1 By wishing a curse to his soul.) 1
31If the men of my tabernacle said not, 1 O that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied. 1
32The stranger did not lodge in the street: 1 But I opened my doors to the traveller. 1
33If I covered my transgressions as Adam, 1 By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom: 1
34Did I fear a great multitude, 1 Or did the contempt of families terrify me, 1 That I kept silence, and went not out of the door? 1
35O that one would hear me! 1 Behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, 1 And that mine adversary had written a book. 1
36Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, 1 And bind it as a crown to me. 1
37I would declare unto him the number of my steps; 1 As a prince would I go near unto him. 1
38If my land cry against me, 1 Or that the furrows likewise thereof complain; 1
39If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, 1 Or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life: 1
40Let thistles grow instead of wheat, 1 And cockle instead of barley. 1 The words of Job are ended.